Bits and Pieces of this and that

I continue to feel a bit of a writer's block and would like for it to pass. The post might be a bit of a list of what is going on, and not so much of a post of reflection.

• Knitting a scarf for my husband. The hard cold snap that seemed to go on forever down here finally has eased and so the need for it is not as critical. Probably will mean there will be no more cold weather, but I know better. We may be at the end of January, but there still is a good bit of winter.
• Reading several books - Blood River by Tim Butcher - where Butcher retraces the route of Stanley and Livingstone along the Congo River.
  
  

  Mountains Beyond Mountains: Healing the World: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer - by Tracy Kidder - Dr. Farmer is a professor at Harvard University, but spends a good bit of his time in Haiti offering medical care to the poorest of the poor.

• Mom seems to be doing well this week. I am thankful since lately she didn't seem as with it. There were days I really worried about her while I was at work. However, the past week, she seems perkier, less forgetful.
• Work has been stressful. It seems to happen this time of year every year. I start getting more students and we start working on the preliminaries to preparing for end of year IEPs. Bottom line - tons of paperwork.
• We are getting three more furlough days - for a total of 6 for the year. Today we voted for when we wanted them. Bottom line - paychecks are less.

Ponderings on an aging parent

Frustration hit this evening. This is the first time in about a month that my mother has asked to drive her car. Mom is eighty, uses a walker, and has had issues with driving in the past which included driving in the middle of the night - and we are not sure she was dreaming during her driving or if the dream was so real that she continued on after she awoke to complete the dream.

We have her keys, so she asked if she could drive to go out to eat with a friend. I'm ambivalent. I don't want to deny her social activities which she has enjoyed, but I am also worried about her safety. There is no public transportation in this small community.

As the night transpired, she told me her friend was picking her up tomorrow. That's a good thing. There are more hoops to jump through, but I think I will close on this one tonight.

Beginnings Again

I have started several blogs, but I feel the need to begin this one and fill in the gaps which I sometimes have not blogged about before now. There are no real secrets, but I have hesitated to blog before as concerns for people I love and care for.

Right now I am in the middle part of my life, in between because I am mom, wife, and caregiver for my eighty year old mother. But there is much more to me which seeps out between those parts. I am journeying through my faith as a Christian whose tradition is rooted in the Episcopal Church. I am a teacher in public schools, in which I am in my 21st year of being in the classroom. I am a friend to those who are very very dear to me, as well as a friend to others -- some of them in their infancy with me and some who go back to my childhood.

I will try to be as transparent in this blog as I can so one might can view my musings about life and see parts of my life that are sweet, as well as the ones that are doses of medicine which might not taste as good.

So, I plant myself here for a bit - I'll share this and that as they come about in my thoughts or need to be shared so others may shed light or walk the path with me.

And here I begin.....